Garment hanger



L. BOBROW GARMENT HANGER Nov. 18, 1969 Filed Feb. 29, 1968 INVENTOR.

BOBROW LUCIEN ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,478,943 GARMENT HANGER Lucien Bobrow, Long Beach, N.Y., assignor to Mr. Hanger, Inc., Long Island City, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Feb. 29, 1%8, Ser. No. 714,158 Int. Cl. A41d 27/22 US. Cl. 223-88 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A garment hanger of generally a framed inverted V shaped frame. At the apex of the inverted V a support element is insertable in the frame which is adapted to be inserted in the frame in a heated condition such that a plurality of protuberances on a leg of the support element will create a race within the frame permitting rotation of the support element while being permanently fixed against being pulled out of the frame. Lateral support elements are provided at the outer extremities of the legs of the frame to support a cross bar member. Each of the lateral support elements is generally L shaped the vertical leg having thereon a number of protuberances to form a race in the legs of the frame while the transverse leg of the lateral supports are insertable in the ends of the cross bar member longitudinally of its long axis.

1 Claim The present invention relates to a garment support and more particularly to a garment hanger which provides a fixed support element.

Various types of garment hangers have been known for many years. As technology improved plastic garment hangers were developed because of the lower cost factors as well as the ability to be styled. At first the durability of the plastic hanger was thought to be far greater than the old standard and metal hangers however practical experience proved this to be wrong, especially in the instance when support elements of the metal type were used to hold the hanger on a bar.

Garment supports of the coat hanger variety or of the type which are used to hold relatively heavy garments are shaped somewhat like a flattened and inverted V with a rod joining the opened end of the V. This rod had a two fold purpose to support a garment draped thereover and to provide structural support to the downwardly and outwardly extending legs or shoulders of the hanger. Practically speaking all presently existing garment hangers have their greatest stress points at the point where the hook attached to the hanger which itself hangs from an overhead cross bar and at the two joints from which the cross bar is attached to the open end of the V. It has been the general practice in the past to screw a hook into the frame of the hanger because the threaded engagement was thought to be the surest. This type of hook placement was thought to lend durability and strength to the hanger. However, I have found that these metal support elements or hooks need not be screwed in place and in fact the old method not only weakened the hanger but did so at the highest stress point on the hanger.

Further, in making a plastic hanger with a hollowed out frame or body portion, many supporting ribs were used in maintaining the position of the walls of the frame whereas when using my construction and shaping of the frame fewer support ribs are required without lessening the general overall strength of the hanger.

These objections to the prior art hangers and other objections to the prior art devices have been overcome by the provision of a sturdy and low cost garment hanger.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a permanent metallic support element at the apex of the "ice hanger frame which may be used as a hood and may be rotated in its place 360 without weakening the hoods position in the frame.

A further object of the present invention is to reduce the number of re-enforcing ribs on the underside of the hanger.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a means for supporting a cross member which will permanently fix the cross-member in position.

Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a method of inserting hooks in a plastic hanger which will permit the rotation of the hook without Weakening the structure against vertical forces applied thereto.

Another object of the present invention is to provide the garment hanger with a surface which is more suited to the proper draping of a garment hung thereon.

The general objects of the invention, and other objects which will become apparent as the description proceeds are achieved by providing a garment support having a frame of generally an inverted V with a support member inserted at its apex. The support member has a hook portion and an elongated downwardly extending leg portion. A pair of protuberances are provided on the leg portion, and are adapted to be heated and thereafter forced in a hole at the apex of the frame. A cross member is fixedly connected between the downwardly and transversely extending legs of the frame. An L shaped connecting member is insertable.

For a better understanding of the present invention reference should be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like numerals of reference indicate similar parts throughout the respective views and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front view partially in section of the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a side view partially in section,

FIGURE 3 is a view taken along lines 33 of FIG- URE 1,

FIGURE 4 is a partially top view, and

FIGURE 5 is a partially sectional view of the position of the hook in the frame.

In perfecting my invention, I have created a garment holder which is constructed on a different principle from conventional hangers, giving them greater strength, economy of materials and simpler fabrication.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 a garment holder is generally shown and is generally designated by the reference numeral 10. The hanger 10 may be provided with a frame 12 which has the general shape of an inverted V. It will be recognized that the downwardly and transversely extended legs 14, 16 respectively, are adapted to maintain an upper wear garment of the jacket or shirt type.

In order to hang the garment holder 10 from a supporting bar (not shown) a hook 18 is attached to the apex 20 of the frame 12. For the purposes of this description the material from which the frame 12 is composed is generally a plastic material although other materials exhibiting the same general qualities of plastics may be used.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the hook 18 is constructed in such a fashion that it is provided with a downwardly extending leg member 22. A pair of protuberances 24 may be integral with the leg member 22 and, because of the material from which it is made, generally metal, it may be heated to a high temperature without losing its shape. In order to provide the garment holder 10 with a permanently inserted book 18, which may be rotatable in place, the frame 12 may be provided with an undersized bore 26 running downwardly into the frame from the apex 20. The leg member 22 may thereafter be heated to a high temperature and then forced downwardly into the bore 26 such that the heat of the leg member 22 slightly melts the plastic material around the bore 26 until the hook 18 is an appropriate distance above the apex 20. The protuberances 24- will have created a pair of channels during the descent of the leg member 22 into the bore 22 but these will be practically if not wholly filled by the molten plastic. However, when the final position of the hook 18 is set, the entire member may be rotated to create a race 28 internally of the bore 22 such that when the leg member 22 is sufficiently cooled the hook cannot be pulled from the bore 22 but it is permitted to be rotated because the protuberances may rotate in the race 28 but may not be pulled therefrom.

In this manner a hook 18 capable of supporting unusual weight is free to rotate in position within the frame 12'without being pulled from the frame 12.

In order to support a cross member 30 between lower extremities of the legs 14, 16 of the frame, a similar technique may be employed. In this instance an L shaped connector 32 may be provided having a pair of protuberances 34 extending laterally from the vertical leg 36. At the lower extremity of each leg 14, 16 there may be provided a platform arrangement 38 which is comprised of a thickened plastic formation in which an undersize bore 40 may be provided. The connector 32, being composed of metal, may permit the heating of the vertical leg 36 which thereafter may be forced into the bore 40, similar to the method described in relation to the leg member 22 of the hook 18. In this latter instance no particular need would be fulfilled in rotating the connector 32 because this member is generally fixed in position. This same procedure may be utilized is fixedly securing the connectors in the lower extremities of both legs 14, 16.

The laterally extending leg 42 of the L shaped connector 32 may be provided with a slightly raised curved portion 44 which would facilitate the insertion thereof into the ends at the cross member 30. The raised curved portion 44 would act as a wedge to insure the firm disposition of an L shaped connector 32 in each end of the cross member 30.

In sequence of placement of the cross member 30 the lateral legs 42 of the L shaped connector 32 would first be placed into the ends of the cross member 30 and thereafter the vertical legs (36) would be heated and placed within the undersized bores 40 respectively formed in the platform 38 at the lower extremities of the legs 14, 16.

With this latter described structure of the placement of the cross member 30, the application of unusually heavy garments draped across the cross member 30 will not result in the dislodging of the cross member 30 where it is connected into the frame 12. This dislodging feature was one of the major limitations in the prior art plastic hanger fields.

It may be seen that in some instances it may be desirous of permitting the cross member 30 to pivotably rotate from one end thereof. In this case the race referred to in the placement of the hook 18 in the apex 20 of the frame 12 may be similarly formed in one platform 38 thereby making one end of the cross member 30 swingable. The other end of the cross member 30 may be releasably connected to the other leg (14 or 16) thereby creating a swingaway cross member.

I claim:

1. A garment hanger capable of supporting articles of clothing from a support rod, said hanger being com pletely rotatable with respect to the support rod to facili tate the draping of the articles of clothing about the hanger as well as the positioning of the hanger upon the support rod, said hanger comprising a hanger frame constructed of a synthetic thermoplastic material, said frame being formed in the general shape of an inverted V and having an apex at the upper portion thereof and two oppositely disposed laterally downwardly extending clothing supporting portions, the tip of the apex including a downwardly extending bore, a hook member, said hook member including hook a depending leg, said leg extending vertically downwardly into said bore, said leg including two laterally projecting protuberances adjacent the tip thereof and extending radially a distance greater than the radius of the bore, said bore including an enlarged concentric cylindrical area, said protuberances lying within said concentric cylindrical area, said concentric cylindrical area having a smooth continuous upper wall, said protuberances abutting said smooth continuous upper wall and preventing the subsequent withdrawal of said hook, said hanger being swivelable about said hook member with said protuberances freely rotating within said enlarged cylindrical area, a hollow tubular cross member, said tubular cross member extending between the ends of the oppositely disposed clothing supporting portions, two inwardly directed spaced connecting elements, each end of the tubular cross member being connected to the associated end of the downwardly extending clothing supporting portion by said connectors, each of said connectors including a laterally extending protuberance projecting therefrom adjacent one end thereof, the ends of the clothing supporting portions including a bore formed therein, the ends of the connectors having the laterally projecting protuberances extending from the connectors a distance greater than the radius of the last mentioned bores, the last mentioned protuberances securely locking the connecting members within the last mentioned bores, each of said connectors being curved adjacent the other ends thereof, said other ends being inserted into the opposite ends of the tubular cross member with the apogee of the curved portion of the connecting member abutting the hollow interior surface of the cross member and with the perigee of the curved portion abutting the hollow interior of the cross member diametrically adverse, the curved portion thus serving to snugly secure the interengagement of the connectors and the cross member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,794,016 2/1931 Henry 22388 XR 2,185,253 1/1940 Klein 22388 2,221,508 11/1940 COney 22388 2,318,664 5/1943 Bolten et a1. 22392 3,069,054 12/ 1962 Treiman 223.92 3,227,334 1/1966 Samuelsson 223 3,306,506 2/1967 Batts 223-88 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner G. H. KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner 

